mew
n.n. a soft, high sound that a cat makes. It is a more formal or poetic way to say 'meow'.
n. a soft, high-pitched vocalisation made by a cat. Often used in literary or dialectal contexts to evoke a specific atmosphere.
The cat let out a soft mew to greet its owner.
As the sun began to set, the cat sat on the windowsill and gave a low mew to signal its hunger.
The silence of the old house was broken only by the occasional mew of a stray cat that had found its way into the garden.
From Middle English mewe, mowe, meau, from Old English mǣw (“seagull”), from Proto-West Germanic maiwī, from Proto-Germanic mai(h)waz (“seagull”). See also West Frisian meau, miuw, Dutch meeuw, German Möwe (whence Polish mewa); akin to Latvian maût (“to roar”), Old Church Slavonic мꙑꙗти (myjati, “to mew”).
From Middle English mewe, mue, mwe, from Anglo-Norman mue, muwe, and Middle French mue (“shedding feathers; cage for moulting birds; prison”), from muer (“to moult”).
From Middle English mewen; onomatopoeic.
Named after British orthodontists John Mew and his son Michael Mew.